FOLDABLE WHEELCHAIR
A foldable wheelchair includes a pair of front legs, a pair of rear legs, a seat frame, a dual-hinge joint, and a pair of armrests. A front pivoting means is pivotally connected to the seat frame and the front legs. A rear pivoting means is pivotally connected to the seat frame and the rear legs. A bottom of the dual-hinge joint is pivotally connected to a rear of the seat frame. A top of the dual-hinge joint is pivotally connected to a backrest body. Therefore, the front legs can be folded backward by the front pivoting means and the rear legs can be folded forward by the rear pivoting means. The tilt angle of the backrest body can be adjusted and the backrest body can be folded forward. Thereby the volume of the wheelchair can be reduced.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheelchair, more particularly to a wheelchair in which front legs and rear legs can be folded and a backrest body can be tilted or folded forward to reduce the whole volume of the wheelchair for the convenience of transport, packing and storage.
2. Related Prior Art
A conventional wheelchair, medical chair or bathing chair is designed for disabled people, as shown in
Another conventional wheelchair 100, as shown in
Therefore, there is a need of novel wheelchair which overcomes the above shortages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne object of the invention is to provide a foldable wheelchair in which front legs can be folded backward and rear legs can be folded forward.
Another object of the invention is to provide a foldable wheelchair in which a backrest body can be folded forward to further reduce the whole wheelchair.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a foldable wheelchair in which the tilt angle of a backrest body can be adjusted.
In order to achieve the above and other objectives, a foldable wheelchair of the invention includes:
a pair of front legs, connected to each other by at least one front rod, a front wheel being mounted on a bottom of each front leg, and a front pivoting means being pivotally connected to a front of a seat frame;
a pair of rear legs, connected to each other by at least one rear rod, a rear wheel being mounted on a bottom of each rear leg, and a rear pivoting means being pivotally connected to a rear of a seat frame;
the seat frame, pivotally connected to the front legs and the rear legs;
a dual-hinge joint, pivotally connected to a rear of the seat frame at its bottom and to a backrest body at its top;
the backrest body, pivotally connected to the dual-hinge joint with an adjustable tilt angle; and
a pair of armrests, pivotally connected to the backrest body in a manner to be able to flip up;
wherein the front legs are foldable backward by the front pivoting means, the rear legs are foldable forward by the rear pivoting means, the angle of the backrest body is adjustable and foldable forward by the dual-hinge joint.
Other objectives, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description referring to the attached drawings.
The present invention will be described via detailed illustration of the preferred embodiment versus prior art referring to the drawings where:
As shown in
A pair of rear legs 22 is located at a rear of the seat frame 23. Each of the rear legs 22 has a width greater than the front legs 21, so that the rear legs 22 will not contact the front legs 21 when the wheelchair is folded. The rear legs 22 have one or two rear rods 221 to connect to each other. Each of the rear legs 22 has a rear wheel 222 at its bottom. The rear wheels can be small or large wheels, even though small wheels are used in some embodiments of the invention. A rear pivoting means 27 is located at an intersection of a rear of the seat frame 23 and a top of each rear leg 22, as shown in
The dual-hinge joint 28 as shown in
As shown in
According to the configuration of the invention, when a user would like to fold up the foldable wheelchair, the front elastic beads 232 of the front pivoting means 26 is pressed down to have the elastic beads 232 leave the front positioning holes 263 of the front leg 21. Then the front legs 21 are folded backward using the front pivoting studs 231 as their folding centers. Subsequently, the rear elastic beads 273 of the rear pivoting means 27 are pressed down to have the rear elastic bead 273 leave the front positioning holes 276 of the rear legs 22. The rear legs 22 are folded forward using the rear pivoting studs 272 as their folding center. After the front legs 21 are folded, the rear legs 22 are folded in a manner not to contact with the front legs 21.
Furthermore, the armrests 25 are lifted upward to around the position parallel to the backrest body 24. Then, the elastic beads 283 of the dual-hinge joint 28 is pressed down to have the elastic beads 282 leave the lower positioning hole 285 of the dual-hinge joint 28. The backrest body 24 and the dual-hinge joint 28 are folded forward using the pivoting stud 282 as their pivoting centers so that the backrest body 24 and the dual-hinge joint 28 are about in parallel to the seat frame 23 as shown in
The dual-hinge joint 28 allows the backrest body 24 to fold forward, and also allows the tilt angle of the backrest body 24 to be adjustable. As shown in
As shown in
In
Furthermore, the front pivoting means 26, the rear pivoting means 27 and the dual-hinge joint 28 respectively can be applied with elastic device or elastomer gel which provides effect of shock absorbing.
The wheelchair of the invention in folded form has significantly reduced height. The conventional wheelchair in folded form cannot have reduced height but width. Compared to the prior art, the wheelchair of the invention offer more convenience in transport, packing and storage.
The present invention has been described via the detailed illustration of the preferred embodiment. Those skilled in the art can derive variations from the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the preferred embodiment shall not limit the scope of the present invention defined in the claims.
Claims
1. A foldable wheelchair, comprising:
- a pair of front legs, connected to each other by at least one front rod, a front wheel being mounted on a bottom of each front leg, and a front pivoting means being pivotally connected to a front of a seat frame;
- a pair of rear legs, connected to each other by at least one rear rod, a rear wheel being mounted on a bottom of each rear leg, and a rear pivoting means being pivotally connected to a rear of a seat frame;
- the seat frame, pivotally connected to the front legs and the rear legs;
- a dual-hinge joint, pivotally connected to a rear of the seat frame at its bottom and to a back frame at its top; and
- a pair of armrests, pivotally connected to the back frame in a manner to be foldable;
- wherein the front legs are foldable backward by the front pivoting means, the rear legs are foldable forward by the rear pivoting means, the angle of the back frame is adjustable and foldable forward by the dual-hinge joint.
2. The foldable wheelchair of claim 1, wherein the front pivoting means comprises a pair of front pivoting sheets on the front legs, front pivoting studs, axial holes and front elastic beads on the seat frame, the front pivoting sheets further respectively have a front pivoting hole and a front positioning hole, the front pivoting studs are in the axial holes to pivotally connect to the front pivoting hole, the front elastic beads are embedded into the front positioning hole, the front elastic beads respectively have an elastic sheet to allow the front elastic beads to return their original states after being pressed.
3. The foldable wheelchair of claim 1, wherein the rear pivoting means further comprises a rear pivoting sheet on each rear leg, and rear pivoting studs, axial holes and rear elastic beads on the seat frame, the rear pivoting sheet has a rear pivoting hole and a rear positioning hole, the rear pivoting studs are in the axial holes to pivotally connect to the pivoting holes, the rear elastic beads are embedded into the rear positioning holes, the rear elastic beads respectively have an elastic sheet to allow the rear elastic beads to return their original states after being pressed.
4. The foldable wheelchair of claim 1, wherein at bottoms of the dual-hinge joint are a pair of lower pivoting sheets, pivoting studs and elastic beads on the seat frame, the lower pivoting sheets respectively have a lower pivoting hole and a lower positioning hole, the pivoting studs are pivotally connected to the lower pivoting holes, the elastic beads are embedded into the lower positioning holes, the elastic beads have elastic sheets to allow the elastic beads to return their original states after being pressed.
5. The foldable wheelchair of claim 1, wherein at the top of the dual-hinge joint are an upper pivoting sheets, an upper pivoting hole and a stopper, at a bottom of the back frame are a ratchet and a through hole, an axial stud penetrates through the upper pivoting hole and the through hole, the stopper is located inside the upper pivoting sheet and is driven to move by a screw stud, the screw stud is combined to the top of the dual-hinge joint for shifting the screw stud to drive the stopper to engage with the ratchet.
6. The wheelchair of claim 1, wherein the rear pivoting means further comprises a pair of pivoting sheets on the rear legs, and rear pivoting studs, stoppers and rear elastic beads on the seat frame, the rear pivoting sheets respective have a rear pivoting hole, a curved engaging slot and a rear positioning hole, the rear engaging stud is pivotally connected to the rear pivoting hole, the stopper is in the engaging slot, the rear elastic beads are embedded in the rear positioning holes, the rear elastic beads respectively have an elastic sheet to allow the rear elastic beads to return their original states after being pressed.
7. The foldable wheelchair of claim 1, wherein the dual-hinge joint has a connecting rod.
Type: Application
Filed: May 26, 2010
Publication Date: Dec 1, 2011
Inventor: Yuan-Chieh CHANG LIAO (Taichung City)
Application Number: 12/788,275
International Classification: A61G 5/08 (20060101);